Sam and Callie cracked up at her cat got the cream look.
I shook my head. “Ohem said that was a courtship thing. You gonna court him for marriage?” I asked her seriously. Rema looked like a very serious male and he was my mate’s second. I loved Patty, but I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
Patty’s smile got wider. “I’ll court him alright. He was so flustered and shy. It was adorable. He still kissed me back, though. After his initial shock, he kissed me backenthusiastically.” She sat back in her chair, her eyes half closed.
Oh yeah, she was smug as hell. Screw it. They were adults. Let Patty get her some alien cock and be happy. She deserved it.
“Get it, girl,” I told her.
She blew me a kiss. I pretended to catch it in the air to press over my heart and sighed, fluttering my eyes at her.
“You guys are ridiculous,” Callie said, but she was smiling.
“You love us,” Patty teased.
“We make your life complete,” I sang to her.
“You were so empty before you met us.”
“So empty and unfulfilled.”
Callie snorted and tossed a bite sized muffin at me. I picked one out of the big bowl in the middle of the table and threw one back. Then Patty joined in on it. Sam laughed and watched, ducking flying muffins. Ohem walked in right as Patty stood up on her chair, hand cocked back to put some power into her throw, but she had to quickly tuck her hands over her head as we pelted her together.
“I leave you females for a single hour and it’s war,” he said in amusement.
We froze, staring at him. He had his arms crossed over his chest, his tentacles waving behind him, tails coiled around his feet. Patty started laughing first, and it was all downhill from there. Ohem shook his head and came to stand behind me, his hand on my shoulder while I calmed down.
I pointed at Callie. “She started it.”
Callie hit me in the chest with another muffin. “I did not!”
“See! She’s abusing me, mate. Eat her.” I threw her muffin back at her.
Ohem plucked the muffin from the air and tossed it into his mouth. “I am glad to see you having a good time,” he said, his eyes bright and laughing. “Did you sleep well?”
I grinned up at him. ”Yeah, I did. Y’all’s beds are out of this world.” The girls groaned in unison. “Hey! That was a perfect pun! It had gravity!”
Sam cringed. “Please stop.”
Ohem chuckled and took a seat next to me. “I have made the announcement to the crew of your presence on the ship. I brought you all links so you can communicate with the ship’s interface, myself or my crew if you need anything.” He handed out round metal marbles to the girls. “Place them against the skin of your neck. It will enter your body. It is painless. You will only feel it moving.”
I frowned.“I thought it connected to your vocal cords or something since I can see it blinking in your neck. I only saw it split into two pieces.”
Ohem nodded. “Yes it does split into two parts, but inside is a small chip that will connect to your nerve stem. It allows imaging and projections. It also will allow you to see each other’s locations. It has many functions, but these are the ones that will be most useful to you.”
Patty was the first to press it to the skin of her neck. It burrowed and split off like I’d seen before. It still gave me the creeps.
Patty blinked at the space in front of her and gasped. “Holy shit, it has a map!”
Sam and Callie followed Patty’s lead and allowed the link to implant. Callie shuddered a little and held her hand over her neck where the link was already blinking. Sam just shrugged and went back to eating and watched Callie with an amused look on her face.
“You will be able to navigate the ship this way, it will open doors and power the transit portal. Just think about what you want to do and the link will perform its task.”
Patty blinked again and looked at me. “How cool is that?” She frowned and looked at Ohem. “What about Jack? Her body rejected the nanos violently, so I don’t think the link will stay in her body. Her nanos would probably try to eat it.”
Ohem handed me a slim black wire. “It goes around your neck, we had it coated in a film to help minimize contact with your skin.”
I shrugged and put it on. It snapped together with a click and tightened. He’d given me a black choker. I’d had a million of them when I’d gone through my scene phase in my teen years, it was very nostalgic.
